838 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 4 of 18
It’s a universal human experience, and it echoes through our sacred stories. Take the tale of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, for example. We know the story well from Genesis, but the ...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text from the Second Temple period, offers a powerful glimpse into the mechanics of forgiveness, and it all starts with a transgression. Cha...
Book of Jubilees turns to Judah and the Fires of Gehenna of Tamar. Our focus today is on a snippet from chapter 41. What's it about? The text lays down some pretty stark directives...
The familiar story centers on Joseph. Sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, but ultimately rising to become second-in-command in Egypt. But what happened after he interpr...
On the second day of Creation, God didn't just whip up one thing, but four: the firmament, hell, fire, and the angels. This firmament isn't just the "heavens" we talked about on th...
It is often remembered as a commandment straight from Mount Sinai, a divine decree etched in stone. And it is. But the story, as it often does in Jewish tradition, has layers and n...
As Moses neared the mountain, he immediately sensed its holiness. He saw that even the birds passing overhead wouldn't dare land upon it. It gets even more dramatic. As Moses appro...
Would you still offer that help? That’s the dilemma, in a sense, that God faces in the lead-up to the Exodus. As we learn in Legends of the Jews, God, in speaking to Moses, lays ba...
The familiar picture has Moses standing alone on the mountain, receiving the word of God. But what about the women? Did they play a role? And if so, what was it? In Legends of the ...
The familiar story is this: Moses goes up Mount Sinai, gets the Ten Commandments, and the Israelites, left to their own devices, panic. But the story, as we find it in Legends of t...
Take the story of Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, the High Priest. We encounter them in the book of Leviticus. They seem like pious individuals. But according to tradition, their e...
A reader can picture Moses as the ultimate authority figure, standing atop Mount Sinai. But what about the practicalities of his rule? The elders certainly held a position of respe...
It's a story filled with nuance and, frankly, a little bit of surprise. These two nations, Moab and Ammon, were neighbors of the Israelites, descendants of Lot (Abraham's nephew) t...
That's where we find ourselves in this intriguing little story. The story unfolds with an unnamed seeker, desperate to find Moses. He believes that God may have commanded Moses to ...
That’s kind of what we’re dealing with in the story of Joram, son of Ahab. Ahab wasn't exactly winning any "Father of the Year" awards. But according to Legends of the Jews, Joram ...
Ten times Pharaoh promised to free the Hebrews. Ten times he broke his word. Each broken promise brought something worse than the last, and according to Josephus, the plagues that ...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to The Golden Calf and Moses on Mount Sinai. The text highlights a curious phrase from (Exodus 32:1): "And the People saw that Moses delayed…" The Tikkunei Zoh...
It all revolves around this seemingly simple word: Te-ru’ah. What exactly is a te-ru’ah? Often translated as a “shout” or “alarm,” the te-ru’ah is that broken, staccato sound we he...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, dives deep into the symbolism of the shofar. And in the 97th Tikkun, we find a particularly intriguing interpreta...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to The Three Shofar Blasts as Sonic Keys to the Divine. First, there's te-qi’ah. This is the long, unbroken blast. The Tikkunei Zohar tells us it’s a sustained...
Yithro warned Moses with a vivid and frightening prophecy (Exodus 18:18): "You will languish." The Hebrew word used here prompted two different interpretations from the rabbis, and...
When God offered the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the entire nation responded with one of the most remarkable declarations in all of Scripture. As the Mekhilta explains,...
"And the whole mountain trembled" (Exodus 19:18), when God descended onto Mount Sinai, the mountain shook. But the Mekhilta reveals that Sinai was not the only mountain trembling. ...
When God gave the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Torah says He "descended" upon the mountain (Exodus 19:20). But it also says He spoke "from the heavens" (Exodus 20:22). These two state...
Why is it written? It is deliberately superfluous to signal a gezeirah shavah (i.e. "identity"), viz. It is written here (in Exodus) "Hebrew," and there (in Devarim) "Hebrew." Just...
Iggeret Teiman (Maimonides) turns to How God Revealed Himself At Mount Sinai. It wasn't a divine downpour, like hailstones from the sky. Instead, according to Iggeret Teiman, as qu...
We've fasted, we've prayed, we've poured out our hearts. And then… one final, powerful blast of the shofar. But why? This final shofar blast carries a whole story with it, a story ...
It's a process, a cosmic event of epic proportions. God Himself takes up the Great Shofar, the ram's horn, and blows it not once, but seven times. This isn't just any shofar,. It's...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Mount Sinai in the Days of Moses. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, a renowned first-century Galilean sage known for his piety and miracle-working, had some f...
In Sifrei Devarim, we find this little gem: "Much to you dwelling in this mountain." It sounds straightforward. Like a simple acknowledgement of gratitude. But, as always, there’s ...
It grapples with the very nature of our connection to the land, specifically Egypt and Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. The passage begins by questioning the intent behind a part...
The sabbatical year is not only about resting the land. In Sifrei Devarim, it becomes a debate over which debts are released and when. One perspective suggests that because a Hebre...
Our ancestors grappled with these very issues, and the Torah, in its wisdom, offered a radical solution: shemittah, the Sabbatical year. What exactly is shemittah? Well, it's more ...
The Hebrew slave who chooses to stay does not enter permanent service by feeling alone. The timing, family, and wording all have to line up, including the declaration in (Exodus 21...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Mount Sinai and Joseph of Atzereth. Why mention each of these individually? Well, Sifrei Devarim suggests it’s because they aren’t mutually derivable. Each ...
We start with a verse from Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:37: "Your money you shall not give him on interest, and on increase you shall not give your food.” Simple enough. Except, as alway...
Our tradition understands that feeling deeply. It even has laws to protect against it. to a little corner of Jewish law, specifically dealing with the ethics of lending and borrowi...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Strict Rules Against Charging Interest to a Brother. The verse in question says, "But to your brother shall you not give interest" (Deuteronomy 23:20). Seem...
The tradition turns to the ancient text of Sifrei Devarim 344 for a little insight. The verse But here’s the thing: the Sifrei Devarim uses this verse to teach something truly prof...
The incense altar, the half-shekel tax, and the anointing oil in (Exodus 30:1-38) all receive remarkable expansions in the Targum Jonathan. What the Hebrew text presents as ritual ...
(24) (Fol. 21b) It is written (Ps. 12, 7) The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver refined in the crucible of earth, purified seven times. Rab and Samuel both explain it. On...
"The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai," the text begins. But it wasn't just "Sinai." It was also called the Mountain of God, Mount Bashan, Mount Gavnunim, Mount Ḥamad...
Leprosy, for example, wasn't just a disease. According to some Jewish traditions, it could be a sign of something deeper, a consequence of wrongdoing. But what wrongdoing specifica...
The familiar reading treats the opening verses of Genesis, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water," and move on. But the Rabbis saw so much more in those words! What i...
Jewish tradition teaches us that our actions, especially those involving money and compassion, carry immense weight. to a fascinating passage from Shemot Rabbah, a collection of ra...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Solomon's Prayer. The text then contrasts the seeming unfairness of this world – "In this world, the wicked are wealthy and live in tranquility and serenity,...
The verse Sounds simple. But the Rabbis unpack this with a force that’ll make you rethink every loan agreement you’ve ever signed. This scenario: someone comes to you for a loan. Y...
Jewish tradition, as always, has some fascinating perspectives. The Book of Exodus, Shemot in Hebrew, is rich with laws and ethical guidelines. And within Shemot Rabbah, a classica...
